Lois O'Donoghue was born in 1932 in the remote Aboriginal community of Indulkana, the fifth of six children of the de facto marriage of Tom and Lily O'Donoghue. Her father was a stockman of Irish descent. Her mother, Lily (surname unknown), was a member of the Yankunytjatjara Aboriginal tribe of northwest South Australia. After living at Everard Park, where they had two children, the O'Donoghues moved in 1925 to Granite Downs, a large cattle property bordering the east of the Stuart Highway in the north of South Australia. Their four youngest children were born here including Lois, on 1 August 1932, who was baptised by a pastor from the United Aborigines' Mission. Her parents were concerned for the welfare and education of their children in such an isolated location as Granite Downs where there was no school, and at an early age the children were taken by their parents to the United Aborigines' Mission in Oodnadatta run by the Baptist Church. From here they were moved to the recently opened Colebrook Children's Home in Quorn run by the Mission.[2]

In 1979, she married Gordon Smart, a medical orderly at the Repatriation Hospital whom she had first met in 1964; he died in 1992. They had no children. Following her retirement, she formally added the name Lowitja to her existing legal name, Lois O'Donoghue Smart, to emphasise her Luritjan heritage.[citation needed]

According to O'Donoghue she was very happy living at Colebrook and said she received a sound education both there and at the Quorn Primary School. The Quorn community at large actively encouraged children from the home to participate in local events, and assisted in the maintenance of the home. Only a few people objected to the integration.[3]

At Colebrook Home the elder children assisted in taking care of younger children. Thus, with this experience, at the age of 16, Lois O'Donoghue's first job was as a nanny looking after six children with a family in Victor Harbor some 100 km south of Adelaide. While attending Baptist church there she was persuaded by the Matron of the South Coast District Hospital to take up nursing as a career.[citation needed]

From 1950–53 O'Donoghue worked as a nursing aide in Victor Harbor. The small hospital did not run a comprehensive training course, so with the strong support and assistance of the Matron, she applied to be a student nurse in Adelaide. After a long struggle to win admission to a training hospital, she became the first black nurse in South Australia. The Royal Adelaide Hospital policy at that time was to only take nursing students who had obtained their Leaving Certificate so initially they would not consider taking her. Fortunately the Hospital shortly afterwards introduced a scheme to allow deserving students to be accepted without the necessary educational qualifications. In 1954, she was in the first intake of unqualified students to attend the Royal Adelaide Hospital which offered good nursing career prospects. She qualified as a nurse and worked at the Royal Adelaide until 1961, being appointed a charge nurse just before leaving.[citation needed]

She spent time with the Baptist Church working in Assam, northern India as a nurse relieving missionaries who were taking leave back in Australia. Due to the nearby Sino-Indian War she was advised by the Australian government to evacuate to Calcutta, from where she would depart for her return to Australia.[4]

After returning in 1962, she worked as an Aboriginal Liaison Officer with the South Australian Department of Education. She later transferred to the SA Department of Aboriginal Affairs and was employed as a Welfare Officer based mainly in the north of the state, in particular at Coober Pedy, some 200 kilometres south of her birthplace.[citation needed]

In 1967 Lowitja O'Donoghue joined the Commonwealth Public Service as a junior administrative officer in the Adelaide office of the newly formed Department of Aboriginal Affairs. After eight years she became the Director of the Department's office in South Australia, a senior officer position, responsible for the local implementation of national Aboriginal welfare policy. After a short while she left the public service and had various management/administrative roles with non-government organisations. She was appointed by the Government as chairperson of the Aboriginal Development Commission.[citation needed]

In December 1992, O'Donoghue became the first Aboriginal Australian to address the United Nations General Assembly during the launch of the United Nations International Year of Indigenous People. She was replaced as Chairperson by Gatjil Djerrkura, who was considered by the Howard Government to be more moderate.[5]

After starting her public service career she placed increasing public emphasis on her Aboriginal heritage and became actively involved in Aboriginal politics. Lowitja was a Chairperson of the National Aboriginal Congress for a short time in the early 1980s before it was dissolved due to internal disputes on its direction.[citation needed]

After the publication of the The Bringing them Home report in 1997, she said she preferred the word 'removed' from the word 'stolen' for her personal situation.[6] She was the youngest child in her family, and was two years old when she was removed from her mother.[7] After she was removed, she did not see her mother again for 33 years. During that time, her mother did not know where her family had been taken.[7]

In 1976, Ms O'Donoghue was the first Aboriginal woman to be inducted into the new Order of Australia founded by the Labor Australian Commonwealth Government. The award was in recognition of her work in the welfare field.[8]